Mont Saint Anne Day 1 - UCI World Cup 2012
Jun 22, 2012
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 First day on the job with Monster Energy Specialized, and Mitch Ropelato is still havin' fun. "Hey Mitch, ride around on this and check your brakes and gears." Mitch wheelies instead. Good times in Quebec. |
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| Same thing as always: line choice, line choice, line choice. Day one is full of riders comparing notes. |
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| Sam has been running a mini shout-out to Troy since the young gun went down in Austria, not many have caught it. Heal up soon, Rivers. |
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| Davis Brody and Brooke MacDonald talking over the ever critical pit RC suspension. |
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| It doesn't matter how tough your wheels are here at Mt St Anne; this bitch will break them. Len of Devinci lacing up a fresh rim for Steve Smith to destroy. |
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| Sometimes riders get giddy over new toys... But a mechanic with a new set of wrenches will put any rider with a new whip to shame. Monkey Vasquez was glowing like a new mom over these lovelies... |
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| The rock drop mid track had Needles reminiscing over a couple sketchy wheelie drops out of heli's back in his younger days..."The first one was way sketchy; you have to remember that what feels like a minor shift in a heli is usually about 5 feet - and pilots do not like to lose elevation. It could be a bit sketchy." Sketchy or not, Needles was having fun boosting in the trailer door and back off the tail gate. |
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| Delivery to Devinci by Shawn Crookshanks of SRAM..."Guaranteed winner with this fork..." If only it were that simple. |
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| "Can I save this wheel", Mark Morriset asks himself as he endeavors to true up Marc Beaumont's wheels after a particularly hard training session here at MSA. Bleeding brakes and lacing up hoops is the main thing here so far this year. Add water and you can tack tire cutting onto the list of things to do. |
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| When it comes to mentoring/training/growing a top shelf racer, Monkey Vasquez, Aaron Gwin's mechanic, swings a bigger hammer than most... Lopes, Kintner, and many other storied riders are in Monkey's rear view mirror. |
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| The M6 Motorway in full glory... |
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| Emmeline Ragot means business here. She was out early on track dialing in lines through the rough stuff, and she had the fastest timed training run today. |
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| Yup, that's Chris Kovarik. I feel sorry for the mountain. |
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| The controversy of this star spangled racing kit... At last year's US National Championships, Neko Mulally was forced by USA cycling to race as a junior, but his time at the US National champs edged out eventual "Senior" overall winner Logan Bingelli. Now Neko has to race in the stars and stripes - the UCI recognizes the fastest time regardless of category as the National Champ - or face a 1000 euro fine at each and every UCI race he attends. |
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| Helmet cams just look dumb unless you've got a bunny rabbit ahead of you. |
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| Josh Bryceland was feeling "it" at Fort William and appears to be feeling "it" (whatever "it" is ) yet again... Fast, smooth, and style-ish. |
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| Greg Minnaar was looking fast all day as usual. Here he sends one of the upper rock drops with ease, as expected. |
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| For tracks like MSA, it's not at all uncommon for riders to shadow each other in an effort to find "the" line. Cous-Cous (following) is a solid rider, make no mistake; but following an old dog like Mick Hannah will show you lines you never knew existed. |
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| Mick Hannah could podium here. He is the master of an extra pedal stroke here, an extra 2 there. Times will be tight this week with not much tech or corners to separate riders, expect him to be way up there. |
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| Canada's hope, Steve Smith, had a rough day. He had a front tire that decided its air was better off outside of its tube on the fastest section of the track, and Sender went down hard. He's fine, but none too happy. |
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| Only 200 meters further down the track, Gee had a spectacular off the bike that saw him ingesting a solid supplement of Vitamin "I" (Ibuprofen) to get him back on track. |
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| As the new-ish track beds in, loads of these rim wreckers started clawing their way out of the seemingly innocent turf, looking for victims. |
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| Mickael Pascal buzzing 'the boys' with the rear tire. |
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| Style for miles; Bren-Dawg soaring... |
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| Bren-Dawg isn't the only one hitting the hip before the hip with style.... |
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| Aaron Gwin, once again looking fast. He's having fun and says this is the best track he's ever ridden. I feel sorry for the competition. |
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| Cody Kelley is young and this is his first race at the legendary MSA. No stress, he's still having the time of his life getting sideways on a jump many people were struggling to get backside on. |
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| Richie Rude washed out on the same jump, and proceeded to go down in flames. He was fine, but did manage to somehow blow off his glove in the yardsale. |
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| Again, the best name in DH racing. Ever. |
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| Dinner conversation was about how Norco's Ben Reid has somehow not wound up on a World Cup podium. The wild Irishman absolutely kills in in every single practice session, yet can't put it together on race day. Everyone loves the flying leprechaun, hopefully he can put one together this week. |
Words and Photos by
Colin Meagher and
Fraser Britton
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